Multi-level safety (MLS) is part of the National Waterplan [1], the official
government plan for national water policy in the Netherlands. MLS pursues
sustainable flood risk management in 2016.
The MLS-approach consists of three layers. The first layer concerns
prevention: to minimize the occurrence of floods. The second layer aims at flood
impact reduction. The third layer deals with a better preparation for the
occurrence of a flood. The developed method is an area-specific risk approach
that looks at an optimal combination of measures from all three layers. In this
paper we concentrate on the second layer, the mandate of the Dutch provinces.
Over the centuries floods have invaded the Dutch delta area. Since the year
1200 these floods and subsequent land reclamations have formed the province of
Zeeland. Many former sea dikes became inland dikes, so called \“sleeper dikes”.
And while they have lost their original function as primary flood protection, they
remain as a network of over a thousand miles of elevated tracks that can serve to
reduce the impact of a flood. This makes Zeeland a region particularly suitable
for MLS.
To explore the (im)possibilities of these sleeper dikes we have to broaden our
focus. Due to the vast anthropogenic elements in today’s world, it is nearly
impossible to neglect any field of activity. Inspired by Carl Steinitz we have
applied the method of changing geography by Geodesign to the development of
MLS. The objective is to achieve better spatial planning and to improve the
decision-making process.
Keywords: multi-level safety, flood impact reduction, Geodesign, spatial
planning.